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Meet the Artist

The DC Jazz Festival proudly presents our Meet the Artist series. Throughout the year, the Festival offers the DC jazz community opportunities to meet our artistic talents and engage them through exclusive question-and-answer sessions. Organized by the DC Jazz Festival's own Artistic Director, Willard Jenkins, Meet the Artist has presented many audiences since 2013, archived on this page.

"Meet the Artist" Archive

Artist: Patricia Barber

Interviewer: John Murph

Date: June 7, 2018

Time: 7:00PM

Venue: Abramson Family Auditorium, NYU (DC)

Description: Pianist-vocalist-songwriter Patricia Barber is an out and proud lesbian artist who obviously, If subtly, invests that perspective in her music. Click Here to Register

Artist: Regina Carter

Interviewer: Sunny Sumter

Date: June 9, 2018

Time: 3:00PM

Venue: Chuck Levins Music Center

Description: Regina Carter is the premier jazz violinist, who has spent the last year honoring one of the signature American Songbook stylists, Ella Fitzgerald. Click Here to Register

Artist: Oliver Lake

Interviewer: Willard Jenkins

Date: June 10, 2018

Time: 6:00PM

Venue: Abramson Family Auditorium, NYU (DC)

Description: Saxophonist-Composer-bandleader Oliver Lake has led a richly varied career. His work has ranged from reggae-informed jazz perspective to his charter membership in the world Saxophone Quartet, to the avant-garde. Click Here to Register

Artist: Terri Lyne Carrington

Interviewer: Willard Jenkins

Date: June 15, 2018

Time: 11:00AM

Venue: Chuck levins

Description: Drummer-bandleader-producer-educator Terri Lyne Carrington was a child prodigt jazz musician who has been a force in the music for 40 years. She is one of our most honored educators who has mentored numerous musicians, including a significant number of women instrumentalists. Click Here to Register

Artist: Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah

Interviewer: Keanna Faircloth

Date: June 16, 2018

Time: 12:00PM

Venue: The Wharf- Education Village @ Recreation Pier

Description: New Orleans born and raised trumpeter Christian Scott was born into a family deeply immersed in jazz and the unique Louisiana African America folklore of "masking" Indian in honor of Native American heritage from an African perspective. Click Here to register

Artist: Ivan Lins

Interviewer: Lynn Veronneau and Ken Avis

Date: June 16, 2018

Time: 1:30PM

Venue: The Wharf- Education Village @ Recreation Pier

Description: The Brazilian master singer-songwriter Ivan Lins will be interviewed by the Brazilian music specialists vocalist Lynn Veronneau and guitarist Ken Avis. Click Here to Register

Artist: Nasar Abadey

Interviewer: Lenny Robinson

Date: June 16, 2018

Time: 5:30PM

Venue: The Wharf- Education Village @ Recreation Pier

Description: Renowed and celebrated jazz drummer, Nasar Abadey is the founder, leader and driving force of the 11-piece band, Supernova, and is considered a Master Drummer with performance credits that reads like a Who's Who of jazz music legends. Mr. Abadey is the 2018 recipient of the Peabody Institute Lifetime Acheivement Award. Click Here to Register

Artist: Melissa Aldana

Interviewer: Mikaela Carlton

Date: June 17, 2018

Time: 1:15PM

Venue: The Wharf- Education Village @ Recreation Pier

Description: The Chilean tenor saxophonist is fast emerging as an exemplary player on the heels on her Thelonious Monk Competition win and her subsequent series of exceptional recordings. Click Here to Register

Artist: Gregoire Maret

Interviewer: Tim Masters

Date: June 17, 2018

Time: 2:30PM

Venue: The Wharf-Education Village @ Recreation Pier

Description: The harmonica is a unique instrument in jazz expression, and Gregoire Maret is the leading voice on the instrument. Click Here to Register

Artist: Ben Williams

Interviewer: Willard Jenkins

Date: June 17, 2018

Time: 3:30PM

Venue: The Wharf- Education Village @ Recreation Pier

Description: DCJF's 2018 Artist-In-Residence, bassist-bandleader Ben Williams, will participate in a live version of Downbeat magazine's legendary blindfold test. Click Here to Register

Description: Pat Metheny made his debut appearance at the 2017 DC Jazz Festival with a select group of musicians that he says “covers the widest range of everything I’ve done previously and… something beyond that.” Metheny has won an astounding 20 GRAMMY awards in 12 different categories including Best Rock Instrumental, Best Contemporary Jazz Recording, Best Jazz Instrumental Solo, and Best Instrumental Composition. The Pat Metheny Group won an unprecedented seven consecutive GRAMMIES for seven consecutive albums. Watch the interview here.

Description: A charismatic and sophisticated entertainer possessing emotional intensity and vocal virtuosity accompanied by poignant storytelling. Those who already know Ola's work truly appreciate this wonderful performer and his capacity to cross cultural and musical boundaries.

Description: The 27-year old, Nashville-based singer, songwriter and pianist counts such stylists as Billy Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, Roberta Flack and Norah Jones as her heroes, but as evidenced by her sparkling full-length Blue Note Records debut, Soul Eyes, Springs mimics none of them. Instead Springs allows her comely to become a conduit that touches upon soul, jazz, and pop while transforminf those aforemention influences into a personalized sound that reveals itself effortlessly.

Description: Jacob Collier is recognized as one of the world’s most distinctive, inventive and prodigious young musicians. Based in London, UK, Jacob has been inspired by many sounds – his music combines elements of Jazz, A cappella, Groove, Folk, Trip-hop, Classical music, Brazilian music, Gospel, Soul and Improvisation (to name a few), which culminate to create the world of "Jacob Collier." With viral hits such as his rendition of the Stevie Wonder classic, “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout A Thing,” Collier has gained a global following, and some of his greatest fans among the elite Jazz community include Quincy Jones, Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, Chick Corea, Steve Vai and Take 6, to name a few.

Description: The Robert Glasper Experiment has dominated jazz charts, winning R&B Grammy's, recording with everyone from Erykah Badu to Norah Jones to Snoop Dogg. Glasper has scored a Miles Davis film and has played keys from Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp A Butterfly to Anderson .Paak's Malibu. Currently, Robert Glass Experiment is collaborating on albums from Herbie Hancock, Common, and Mac Miller.

Registration is free, but requires a purchase of a ticket to DC JazzFest at the Yards. Click here to register!

Description: Saxophonist Kenny Garrett has become the preeminent alto saxophonist of his generation. From his first gig with the Duke Ellington Orchestra (led by Mercer Ellington) through his time spent with musicians such as Freddie Hubbar, Woody Shaw, Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers and Miles Davis, Garrett has always brought a vigorous yet melodic, and truly distinctive, alto saxophone sound to each musical situation.

Description: Sarah Elizabeth Charles is a rising vocalist/composer based in New York City. She has worked and studied with artists such as George Cables, Geri Allen, Nicholas Payton, Sheila Jordan, Jimmy Owens and Carmen Lundy and released her debut record, "Red" in September of 2012 with her band SCOPE. Sarah's critically acclaimed sophomore project, "Inner Dialogue", features her band along with co-producer/special guest Christian Scott. She is currently working on her third album to be released in 2017.

Description: Jazz, soul, and gospel singer, songwriter, and actor Gregory has produced 4 albums since 2010. His third album, Liquid Spirit, was a huge success, scooping up the 2014 Grammy Award for best Jazz Vocal album and becoming the most streamed jazz album of all time with over 20 million listens. In 2016, Porter's own version of "Holding On", was recorded with electronic sensation, Disclosure.

Description: Black Violin is the blend of classical, hip-hop, rock, R&B, and bluegrass music. Live, they are accompanied by their incredible band, featuring ace turntable whiz DJ SPS and a drummer. Named one of the hottest bands at SXSW in 2013, Black Violin was invited to perform at Bonnaroo and returned to SXSW this year to SRO crowds.

The DC Jazz Festival®, a 501(c)(3) non-profit service organization, is made possible, in part, with major grants from the Government of the District of Columbia, Muriel Bowser, Mayor; and, in part, by major grants from the Anne and Ronald Abramson Family Foundation, The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, Gillon Family Charitable Fund, The Mayo Charitable Foundation, CrossCurrents Foundation, Wells Fargo Foundation, The NEA Foundation, Venable Foundation, The Dallas Morse Coors Foundation for the Performing Arts, The Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation, The Reva & David Logan Foundation; and with awards from the National Endowment for the Arts and the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, an agency supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.

About DCJF

Since 2005, the DC Jazz Festival organization has provided enriching and entertaining jazz performances and programs that introduce students and adults from all walks of life to jazz, our nation’s singular original art form.